The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set out a challenge of involving community-based activities for disaster preparedness on Challenge.gov. The challenge is to come up with ideas that engage all Americans in preparedness. They are encouraging submissions from communities of practice (such as the medical community), for innovative ideas for outreach (such as artistic expression), and even on ideas that can be implemented on the individual and family level.
The challenge is a follow-up to a talk given by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate at the 2010 TEDMED Conference where he spoke about the need to expand the emergency management team and engage all Americans in better preparing our communities before disaster strikes. The talk compared preparedness for disaster to maintaining our own health in order to prepare for disease, and urged us all to think about protecting our communities in the same way.
The Challenge.gov site will compile all suggestions, and offers a forum for discussions. All submissions will be judged by FEMA leadership with winners highlighted on www.fema.gov. The deadline for ideas is January 2, 2011.
